xref: /freebsd/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.1 (revision f0adf7f5cdd241db2f2c817683191a6ef64a4e95)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Paul Kranenburg
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3.\"
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5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd May 31, 2003
32.Dt RTLD 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ld-elf.so.1 ,
36.Nm ld.so ,
37.Nm rtld
38.Nd run-time link-editor
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40The
41.Nm
42utility is a self-contained shared object providing run-time
43support for loading and link-editing shared objects into a process'
44address space.
45It is also commonly known as the dynamic linker.
46It uses the data structures
47contained within dynamically linked programs to determine which shared
48libraries are needed and loads them using the
49.Xr mmap 2
50system call.
51.Pp
52After all shared libraries have been successfully loaded,
53.Nm
54proceeds to resolve external references from both the main program and
55all objects loaded.
56A mechanism is provided for initialization routines
57to be called on a per-object basis, giving a shared object an opportunity
58to perform any extra set-up before execution of the program proper begins.
59This is useful for C++ libraries that contain static constructors.
60.Pp
61The
62.Nm
63utility itself is loaded by the kernel together with any dynamically-linked
64program that is to be executed.
65The kernel transfers control to the
66dynamic linker.
67After the dynamic linker has finished loading,
68relocating, and initializing the program and its required shared
69objects, it transfers control to the entry point of the program.
70.Pp
71To locate the required shared objects in the file system,
72.Nm
73may use a
74.Dq hints
75file prepared by the
76.Xr ldconfig 8
77utility.
78.Pp
79The
80.Nm
81utility
82recognizes a number of environment variables that can be used to modify
83its behaviour as follows:
84.Pp
85.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE"
86.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_POST
87If set
88.Nm
89will print a table containing all relocations after symbol
90binding and relocation.
91.It Ev LD_DUMP_REL_PRE
92If set
93.Nm
94will print a table containing all relocations before symbol
95binding and relocation.
96.It Ev LD_LIBMAP_DISABLE
97If set, disables the use of
98.Xr libmap.conf 5 .
99.It Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
100A colon separated list of directories, overriding the default search path
101for shared libraries.
102This is ignored for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
103.It Ev LD_PRELOAD
104A list of shared libraries, separated by colons and/or white space,
105to be linked in before any
106other shared libraries.
107If the directory is not specified then
108the directories specified by
109.Ev LD_LIBRARY_PATH
110will be searched first
111followed by the set of built-in standard directories.
112This is ignored for set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
113.It Ev LD_BIND_NOW
114When set to a nonempty string, causes
115.Nm
116to relocate all external function calls before starting execution of the
117program.
118Normally, function calls are bound lazily, at the first call
119of each function.
120.Ev LD_BIND_NOW
121increases the start-up time of a program, but it avoids run-time
122surprises caused by unexpectedly undefined functions.
123.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS
124When set to a nonempty string, causes
125.Nm
126to exit after loading the shared objects and printing a summary which includes
127the absolute pathnames of all objects, to standard output.
128.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_ALL
129When set to a nonempty string, causes
130.Nm
131to expand the summary to indicate which objects caused each object to
132be loaded.
133.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT1
134.It Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_FMT2
135When set, these variables are interpreted as format strings a la
136.Xr printf 3
137to customize the trace output and are used by
138.Xr ldd 1 Ns 's
139.Fl f
140option and allows
141.Xr ldd 1
142to be operated as a filter more conveniently.
143The following conversions can be used:
144.Bl -tag -width 4n
145.It Li %a
146The main program's name
147(also known as
148.Dq __progname ) .
149.It Li \&%A
150The value of the environment variable
151.Ev LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS_PROGNAME
152.It Li %o
153The library name.
154.It Li %m
155The library's major version number.
156.It Li %p
157The full pathname as determined by
158.Nm rtld Ns 's
159library search rules.
160.It Li %x
161The library's load address.
162.El
163.Pp
164Additionally,
165.Ql \en
166and
167.Ql \et
168are recognized and have their usual meaning.
169.El
170.Sh FILES
171.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints" -compact
172.It Pa /var/run/ld-elf.so.hints
173Hints file.
174.It Pa /etc/libmap.conf
175The libmap configuration file.
176.El
177.Sh SEE ALSO
178.Xr ld 1 ,
179.Xr ldd 1 ,
180.Xr elf 5 ,
181.Xr libmap.conf 5 ,
182.Xr ldconfig 8
183